At least an embodiment of the present invention relates to a card reader and a card insertion part thereof.
A card reader in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-232822 includes: a card insertion part having a card insertion slot formed therein; and a card reader main body that performs a process to, for example, read and write information from and to a card inserted through the card insertion slot. The card insertion part has a configuration such that a cover member with the card insertion slot formed therein has optical transparency and a light source is disposed at the back side of the cover member so that the periphery of the card insertion slot lights up. A substrate with the light source installed thereon is secured to a base plate (reinforcing plate). The card reader main body includes a frame, and the card insertion part is secured to the card reader main body by fixing the base plate to the frame.
In the card reader, when the cover member in the card insertion part is touched by a user's finger that is electrically charged due to static electricity, or the like, the static electricity sometimes jumps to the inner side of the card insertion slot. When static electricity jumps to the inner side of the card insertion slot, the static electricity is applied to the substrate on which the light source is installed. Therefore, there is a possibility of occurrence of improper operation due to static electricity. Furthermore, there is a possibility that electronic components or light sources on a substrate get damaged due to static electricity and the substrate gets damaged.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-232822, a metallic base plate is disposed on the back side of the substrate, and the back surface of the substrate is in contact with the base plate. Therefore, the electrical connection between the substrate and the card reader main body via the base plate allows static electricity to be released to the card reader main body via the base plate. Thus, there is a lower possibility of occurrence of improper operations or failures of a substrate due to static electricity.
In a card reader where a substrate with a light source installed thereon is provided in a card insertion part, the number of light sources or the types thereof is sometimes increased for decorations. An increase in the types of light sources installed on a substrate or the number thereof causes complexity of a circuit pattern formed on the substrate. Therefore, in some cases, a circuit pattern is formed on the back side of a substrate, or a through-hole penetrating a substrate is formed. When such a configuration is used, it is preferable that an insulating member is provided between a base plate and a substrate so as to prevent short-circuiting due to the contact between the base plate and a through-hole or a circuit pattern. Insulation between the substrate and the base plate, however, makes it difficult to release static electricity from the base plate and therefore difficult to prevent improper operations or failures due to static electricity.